Extension drawer-support.



W. D. PATTERSON. EXTENSION DRAWER SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15, 1908.

Patented Jan.'1 i,19 10.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFioE.

WALTER D. PATTERSON, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AMBERG FILE & INDEXCO., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

-To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER D. PA'I'IER- sort, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements-in ExtensionDrawer-Supports; and I .do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the numerals of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in extension supports for drawersfor cabinets and other articles of furniture, of that class in which thedrawer is designed to be wholly withdrawn from its compartment and to besupported in its outermost position.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Among the objects of my invention is to provide an extension drawersupporting structure embodying roller bearings which are so arranged asto distribute the load of the drawer thereon as to insure free operationthereof and avoid binding and which will also produce a practicallynoiseless construction.

A' further object of the invention is to provide an exceedingly strongand durable support for drawers of this character, while making the sameof light construction and such as will take up but littlespace in thecabinet.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective View of a cabinet provided with anextension drawer support embodying my improvement, showing the drawer inits extended position. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the drawerremoved from the cabinet. Fig.3 is a transverse section of the 66 ofFig. 4. Fig. 7 is a transverse sec-.

tion, taken on line 77 of Fig. 9. Fig. 8 is a transverse section, takenon line 88 of' Fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken online 99 ofFig. 3, indicating the drawing in dotted outline. Fig. 10

Specification of Letters Patent.

EXTENSION DRAWER-SUPPORT.

Patented Jan. 11, 1910.

Application filed June 15, 1908. Serial No. 438,454.

is a detail illustrating the forward en'dbf one of the extension slidesand its associated supplemental rail of the drawer, the drawer, which isindicated in dotted outline, being shown in its outermost position. Fig.11 is a view similar to Fig. 9, illustrating the drawer partiallywithdrawn.

As shown in the drawings, 15 designates an article of furniture, whichmay comprise an ordinary letter file cabinet having side walls 16, 16,and-"17, '17 designate the drawers which are movable into and out ofthecom partments of the cabinet. Said drawers each comprises side walls19, 19, a front wall 20, a rear wall 21, and a bottom wall 22. Thedrawer is supported on the'side walls 16 of the cabinet structurethrough the medium of track rails 25, 25 which are fixed by screws 26 totheinner' sides of said side walls, extension slides 27, 27 which aresupported on said track rails and supplemental tracks 28, 28 which areattached to the drawer and are supported on the outer ends of saidextension slides. The said track rails, extension slides andsupplemental drawer tracks are made of sheet metal, as herein shown, andthe track rails and slides are flanged to give grooved constructionthereto, said parts fitting in telescopic relation to each other. Thetrack rails 25 each consists of a vertical web portion 30, and upper andlower flanges 31, 32, respectively, on which are formed downwardly andupwardly facing tracks. The outer margins of. the track flangesterminate in guide flanges 35, 36, respectively, which serve to maintainproper guiding engagement of the parts. The inner ends of the groovedtrack rails thus formed are closed byend walls 37 formed by turning theend of the webs.

lower one of which constitutes a track flange,

and guide flanges 43, 44 extending vertically from said horizontalflanges. The guide flanges 44 of the extension slides are curvedinwardly toward the webs thereof at the front end of the slides, asshown at 45, to constitute a housing for a stop 46 which limits theoutward movement of the drawer supplemental tracks 28 therein, as willhereinafter more fully appear. The extension slides 27 at the sides ofthe drawer fit within the hollow track rails 25, between the upper andlower track flanges of the latter, as shown best in Figs. 3, 7 and 8.The said track rails are each provided with bearing rollers 48, 49, thelatter of which is rotatively mounted on a short pin 50 that is mountedat its ends in the adjacent guide flange 36 and the web of said rail.The other roller 48 is unattached, it being designed to roll along thetrack when the drawer is opened and closed and is arrested by itscontact with the stop block 38. The

said extension slides 27 rest on the bearing rollers 48 and 49, and whenthe drawer is v in its innermost position the entire weight or load ofthe drawer is transmitted to the said track rails through said rollers48 and 49. The said extension slides have further roller bearing contactwith the track rails 25, consisting of bearing rollers 52, 52 carried bythe rear ends of said slides which bear upon the downwardly facing tracksurfaces of the upper flanges 31 of the said track rails. The bearingrollers 52 are mounted on pins 53, 53 which are carried by upwardextensions of the webs 40 at the rear ends of said extension slides.When the drawer is drawn out or partially drawn out, its weight istransmitted to the track rails through the front or floating'rollers 48and said rear rollers 52, as shown in Fig. 11.

The drawer is supported on the extension slides through devices made asfollows: 55, 55 designate rear bearing'rollers which are carried by thesides of the drawer and are mounted on studs 56, 56 extending laterallyfrom the said walls. Said studs are shown as made integral with plates57 which are attached by screws or the like to the drawer walls. Thesaid drawer rollers are located within the hollow or channeled extensionslides. They bear on the upwardly facing tracks of the lower flanges 42of said slides to transmit the weight of the rear part of the drawer andits load to said extension slides when the drawer is in its closedpos'ition, as shown in Fig. 9, and engage the downwardly fac' tracks ofthe upper flan es 41 of said slides when the weight 0 the extendeddrawer tends to tip the front end of the drawer downwardly,

lower flanges 42 of the extension slides when the drawer is in itsclosed position, as shown in Fig. 9., Thus it will be seen that when thedrawer is in its closed position, as shown in Fig. 9, the weight of thedrawer and its load is transmitted through the supplemental 7 5 tracks28 and thebearing rollers 55 to the extension slides, from whence it istransmitted through the rollers 48 and 49 to the track rails 25..

During the first part of the outward g0 movement of the drawer it willmove outwardly on the rollers 48 and 49 owing to the fact that saidrollers are free to rotate, while the rollers 58, which directly supportthe front part of the drawer, are retarded 5 by engagement with thedepressions 60 in the lower tracks of the extension slides. \Vhile thedrawer is moving outwardly to the position shown in Fig. 11, thesupplemental tracks and rollers 58 remain in their normal positionsrelatively to each other and to the extension slides. During the firstpart of the outward movement of the drawer the forward, unattached orfloating rollers 48 roll forwardly along the lower tracks of the trackrails 25 toward the sto s 38 at the forward ends thereof. The sai freeor floating rollers move forwardly and rear-, wardly at a speed but halfof that of the drawer, and are so located that they reach,

the sto s 38 at a time when said slides have reach their fo rwardmostpositions.

' The extension slides are provided with downwardly extending arms 62,62 which are attached to and depend from the lower 10s flanges thereofand extend into the space between the guide flanges 36 of said lowerflanges and the webs of said rails, in line with said free or floatingrollers. Therefore, when the sliding extensions reach their forwardmostpositions, said arms 62 engage the floating or unattached rollers 48just as the latter are brought up against the stops 38, whereby furtheroutward movement of the slides is arrested. In the further openingmovement of the drawer the p lemental tracks are drawn outwardly witrespect to the extension slides, and in such-outward movement aresupported by the floating rollers 58 which travel outwardly on theflanges 42 toward the end stops 46 at the ends of the extension slide's.Sa1d floating or unattached rollers are moved outwardly at half thespeed of the drawer and are brought 'up against said end stops 46 whenthe drawer has reached the limit of its movement. The said supplementaltracks 28 are provided at their rear ends with downwardly extending armsor spurs 65 which are arranged to engage said 13 floating'rollers justas the latter are brought up against the end stops 46 and thus arrestthe final forward or outer movement of the drawer. Thus it will be seenthat the positions of the floating or unattached rollers 58 and 48 arealways under control, and are maintained in their properpositions tosupport the drawer as desired, notwithstanding the fact that they arefree to bodily move relatively to-their engaging track surfaces. In theevent that said rollers should acci dentally become misplaced they wouldbe brought to their proper relative positions upon the next fullwithdrawal of the drawer, inasmuch as in such event the arms or spurs 62and 65 would bring said rollers up against their stops. When the draweris thereafter pushed inwardly, the rollers will naturally'roll inwardlin proper rela tion to the parts which t ey support and stop in thepositions shown in Fig. 10. During the time the drawer is passing fromthe position indicated in Fig. 11 to its final open position, indicatedin Fig. 10, it will be noted that the weight of the drawer and its loadis supported by the lower floating rollers 48 and the upper bearingrollers 52 carried by the rear ends of the sliding extensions. l/Vhenthe drawer is pushed inwardly from its outermost position the drawerisfirst moved inwardly on the rollers 55 and 58 from the position shownin Fig. 10 until the parts assume the position shown in Fi 11, andduring the continuation of the c osing movement of the drawer theextension slides move inwardly on the rollers 48 and 49' until theyreach the position shown in Fig. 9. i

The use of the floating or unattached rollers 48 and 58 maintains thebearing rollers inproper position for supporting the load of the drawerby the use of a mimmum nuniber of rollers and a simple and inexpensiveconstruction, it being observed that said rollers move outwardly andinwardly on their tracks as the drawer is moved out wardly and inwardly.Thus the roller support for the load is stable and largely avoidsobjectionable tendenc of the movable parts to bind against the'fiearingrollers. Thus the drawer moves freely on its supports. The provision ofthe depressions 60 in the lower tracks of the extension slides 27 inwhich the floatin rollers 58 rest when the drawer is in its 0 osedposition is advantageous, inasmuch as it insures that the drawer willmove outwardly, when it is being opened, with the extension slidesthrough the full travel of said slides before the drawer is movedrelatively to said slides. This arrangement provi es for a more freelymovable drawer, as compared to a construction where the drawer is firstwithdraw-n inasmuch as the latter arrangement has the effect to at oncethrow an overweight on the forward ends 'of the track rails and thebearing rollers in the beginning of the opening movement of the drawer,which would continue at an increasing ratio as the drawer approached itsfully opened position. In the present construction the overweight at theforward end of the drawer'is not brought full upon the drawer supportsuntil the drawer is fully extended, or occupies its said s ides duringthe remainder of the closing movement. The said rollers, as well as thelimitin stops 38 and 46, will be made of any suitable, comparativelynon-rigid, non-resonant material, thus producing a noiseless extensionsupport which is free from shocks or jars tending to break or rack themovable parts.

It will be understood that changes may be made in the construct-ionherein shown within the spirit of my invention, and I do not wish to belimited to such construction except as hereinafter made the subject of'specific. claims.

I claim as my invent-ion:

1. The combination with a cabinet and a drawer movable into and out ofthe cabinet, of an extension support for the drawer comprising trackrails fixed to thecabinet, extension slides supported on said trackrails and movable endwise thereof and formed with upwardly facingtracks, suplemental tracks at the forward ends of the rawer whichoverlap the forward ends of the extension slides and are movable endwiseof the upwardly facing tracks of the extension slides, and means forretarding the movement of the supplemental tracks of the drawer endwiseof the upwardly facing tracks of the extension slides, whereby in thefirst outward movement of the drawer the extension slides first moveoutwardly with mental tracks at the forward ends of' the drawer whichoverlap the forward ends of the extension slides, bearing rollersinterposed between said supplemental tracks and the tracks of saidslides and movable along said tracks, and means for retarding the actionof the supplemental track bearing rollers, whereby the drawer andextension slides move outwardly on the bearing rollers of the extensionslides during the first part of the withdrawal movement of the drawer.

3. The combination with a cabinet and a drawer movable into and out ofthe cabinet, of an extension support for the drawer comprising trackrails fixed to the cabinet, extension slides supported on said trackrails and movable endwise thereof and formed with upwardly facingtracks, bearing rollers between said slides and tracks, supplementaltracks at the forward ends of the drawer which overlap the forward endsof the extension slides, bearing rollers interposed between saidsupplemental tracks and the tracks of said slides and movable along saidtracks, means for retarding the action of the supplemental track bearingrollers, whereby the drawer and extension slides move outwardly on thebearing rollers of the extension slides during the first part of thewithdrawal movement of the drawer, and means for limiting the outwardmovement of the drawer.

4. The combination with a cabinet and a drawer movable into and out ofthe cabinet, of'an extension support for the drawer comprising trackrails fixed to the cabinet, extension slides supported on said trackrails and movable endwise thereof and formed with upwardly facingtracks, bearing rollers between said slides and tracks, supplementaltracks at the forward ends of the drawer which overlap the forward endsof the extension slides, bearing rollers interpcsed between saidsupplemental tracks and the upwardly facing tracks of said extensionslides, and movable along said tracks, said upwardly facing tracks beingprovided a distance in rear of their outer ends with' depressions whichare engaged by said latter rollers when the drawer is closed, and stopdevices on said supplemental tracks and extension slides which cooperatewith said latter bearing rollers to limit the outward nliogement of thedrawers relatively to said s 1 es. 4

5. The combination with a cabinet and a drawer movable into and out ofthe cabinet, of an extension support for the drawer com prising trackrails fixed to the cabinet, ex tension slides supported on said trackrails and movable endwise thereof and formed with upwardly facingtracks, bearing rollers between said slides and tracks, supplementaltracks at the forward ends of the rollers when the drawer is closed,said extension slides being provided at their outer ends with stops andthe supplemental tracks ends of being provided at their rear ends withdownwardly extending hooks adapted to en age the latter rollers whenthey are arreste by said stops to arrest the final opening movement ofthe drawer.

6. The combination with a cabinet and a drawer movable into and out ofthe cabinet, of an extension support for the drawer comprising upwardlyand downwardly facing tracks on the cabinet, extension sli es betweensaid tracks which are movab e endwise thereof, means for limiting theoutward movement of said extension slides relatively to the tracks, saidslides being formed to provide upwardly facing tracks, and means forsupporting the drawer on said slides comprising rollers extendinglaterally from the rear end of the drawer and enga ing the upwardlyfacing tracks of the slides, supplemental tracks at the forward end ofthe drawer overla ing the forward ends of the extension s11 es, rollersinterposed between said supplemental tracks and the upwardly facingtracks of said slides, said upwardly facing tracks of the slides beingprovided near their outer ends with depressions with which said rollersare engaged when the drawer is in its closed posiers to arrest forwardmovement of the drawer relatively to said slides.

7. The combination with a cabinet and a drawer movable into and out ofthe cabinet, of an extension support for the drawer comprising upwardlyand downwardly facing tracks on the cabinet, extensionislides betweensaid tracks and movable endwise thereof, bearing rollers interposedbetween said extension slides and the upwardly facing tracks, theforward rollers of which move bodily along said tracks, sto devices onsaid extension slides and tracks or limiting the forward movement ofsaid slides, and means for su porting the drawer on said extensionslides comprising bearin rollers extending laterally from the rear on ofthe drawer and engaging upwardly facing tracks formed on saidextensionslides, supplemental tracks on the forward end of the drawer overlappingthe forward ends of said extension slides, rollers inter osed betweensaid supplemental tracks an the upwardly facing tracks on said slidesand movable along said latter tracks, said latter In testimony, that Iclaim the foregoing tracks being provided in rear of their foras myinvention I aflix my signature in the ward ends with depressions withwhich said presence of two witnesses, this 9th day of latter rollers areengaged when the drawer is June A. D. 1908.

in its closed osition, and stop devices on the I IVALTER D. PATTERSON.supplelnenta tracks and said extension \Vitnesses: i slides for limitingthe forward movement of JOSEPH SUEss,

the drawer with respect to said slides. l ARTHUR J. AMBERG.

